One Day
by sammy55
Summary: After Cora leaves the barn, Regina is left to deal with Daniel's body on her own. Set during 1x18 - The Stable Boy.


**This is rebecamader's fault. Over on Tumblr, she brought up the fact that we never saw how Daniel's body was moved. Cora wasn't going to help, so obviously Regina had to do it by herself. **

**Thus, this fic was born. **

Cora briskly straightened Regina's hair and dress. "Now darling, finish cleaning yourself up and return to the castle when you're finished. Can't have you wondering around with tears in your eyes - the guards will gossip. Do cheer up dear, I did this to make things easier for you."

She patted Regina on the cheek and turned to go. "Oh!" Turning back, "Leave the body where it is. One of the other stable hands will find it in the morning and arrange something for it. And no one will be able to prove that it wasn't a natural death, so no suspicion will fall on you."

Regina watched her mother leave, in shock and frozen for a moment. She didn't understand how things had turned out quite like they had. Only a few minutes ago, she was about to leave to live a life of simplicity with her love and now…

The heavy slam of the barn doors closing was enough to jolt her back into the present and the tears that had been wiped away by her mother's hands were instantly replaced. Her legs collapsed and her fell heavily onto the dirt floor, one hand covering her mouth to muffle her sobs. She reached out her other hand to shakily brush Daniels hair from his forehead, looking for impossible signs of life.

For the first time in years, she sends a wish up, needing someone to help her. She had grown up surrounded by stories of fairies arriving to help during a crisis - providing a gift, healing the ill, granting a child. Regina had often wished for small things as a child, all had gone unanswered. But she hadn't been feeling the desperation she felt now. She needed help and guidance.

No one came.

The young girl sat on the ground for a while longer before realizing that she needed to do something. If she left Daniel's body here, it would most likely be dumped in a field somewhere and left to rot. He deserved a proper burial. And she needed a chance to say goodbye.

She would have to store him somewhere cool for a while, so his body didn't decompose while she was forced to deal with wedding preparations. There were several places within the palace that were cool enough, but nowhere she could get to without being seen. She sat in thought for a few moments, stroking Daniel's cloak and biting her lip so she didn't start crying again. She would mourn later.

The wine cellar! Her mother had built an underground wine cellar several years ago, but never actually used it because it was too cold and froze the wine. The entrance was just a short distance away from the stables and it was certainly cool enough.

Her mother would hopefully be too busy with planning the wedding to bother to follow through and make sure that Daniels body had been discovered and dealt with. She would never approve of what Regina was about to do, always thought it was best to move forward.

The wedding. The young brunette was lost in her mind for a moment. She had dreamed of a simple wedding, of a simple life. She should be excited for her wedding, eagerly picking out decorations and bridesmaids. Instead her hand had been forced and she was pretty sure that she would be given no choice in regards to decorations or bridesmaids. She didn't even want to consider her wedding night…

Regina shook off her thoughts and pushed herself up. She walked so she was standing behind Daniel's head and mentally braced herself. She had to do this, had to honor Daniel. Reaching down, she gingerly wrapped her arms around Daniel's upper body and attempted to drag him backwards. She only made it a few feet before she tripped, almost letting his head drop.

"Ah!" She landed on her backside, his head in her lap. Letting her shoulders droop, she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his, breathing in his horsey smell to focus her. A few more tears leaked out and created a wet patch in his hair.

He was too heavy for her to carry all the way to the cellar. The guards, even those most loyal to her, would be no help. They would turn around and tell her mother, fearing them more than any of them loved her. And her father...

Her father was so frightened by her mother that he would never even entertain the idea of going against her. It didn't matter what Cora did to Regina, her father may briefly protest, but it the end he would bend under Cora's iron fist like everyone else did - Regina included.

So she was alone.

She lifted her head from Daniel and looked around, at a loss of what to do. As she did so, Rocinante whinnied loudly behind her. She glanced back at him startled, but then realized that she did have someone to help - her beloved horse.

Setting Daniel's head gently on the dirt, Regina quickly ran to the storage room, grabbing a bridle and throwing it out into the barn. She turned and started frantically digging through a pile of items that were stored there until winter. She began to worry that it wouldn't be there, but her hand finally connected with a piece of wood and she pulled it free.

"Oh thank the gods." Hurrying back to her dead fiancé, she laid the wooden sled on the ground next to him. It took her quite a few minutes to maneuver him onto the platform and by the time she was finished she was out of breath and once again crying.

She harshly wiped off the tears, berating herself for being so damn weak as she rushed about to find a piece of rope to secure his body to the sled. That done, she turns to grab the saddle, struggling under its weight for a moment before hefting it up onto Rocinante's back. He was perfectly behaved as usual and stood firm beneath her shaking hands.

Saddle on and bridle set, she led him out into the hallway, grabbed one end of the rope and tied it to the saddle horn. Swinging herself up onto the saddle, she situated herself to sit side saddle, cursing herself for wearing a dress. Checking once to ensure everything was in place, she flapped the reins and kicked at Rocinante's side.

She was extremely aware of the time constraint she was under as she raced across the flat ground of the castle lands. Once the sun was up and the guards changed shifts, she would have no chance of sneaking around. She kept one eye on Daniel, ensuring that he wasn't thrown or flipped as the traveled.

Regina was still a bit dazed, not completely sure that she was actually awake at this moment. She didn't want to believe that her mother could be so cruel as to take her true love away from her, so consumed with power that she couldn't see that her daughter was being destroyed by her ambition. She didn't want to believe that she had just lost the first person to ever stand up to Cora on her behalf.

Perhaps this was all a horrible nightmare and she would awake in the morning to find everything was right once more - No Snow White, no King Leopold, no wedding. She would go to her lessons, join her mother for tea, and perhaps be released for a quick riding lesson before night fell. Just a normal day.

But as she arrived at the in ground entrance to the cellar and maneuvered the sled over to the entrance, she knew that wasn't true. This was her new reality.

Knowing that she couldn't carry him down by herself, Regina decided to leave Daniel tied to the sled so she could drag him down the long flight of stairs. Adjusting her dress so she wouldn't trip over the long skirt, she began to walk backward down the stairs, gripping the bottom of the sled and pulling it down the stairs with her.

She wanted to cry every time Daniel's head was jostled as the sled dropped from stair to stair. She just wasn't strong enough to prevent it.

The further she descended into the cellar, the louder the sound of the sled hitting the stairs echoed around her, and goose bumps soon began to appear on her arms as the temperature dropped. It was quite eerie down there, cobwebs gave way to almost pristine stone walls - it was too cold for anything to survive for long.

Finally they reached to bottom of the stairs. Regina considered pulling him further into the freezing basement, but her arms were shaking from the strain of pulling him. Plus, she had yet to sleep and she still had to return Rocinante to the stables before the farm hands were up with the sunrise. So he remained just to the side of the staircase, hidden in the shadows.

She knelt down beside him, brushing off dust that had accumulated from the journey before leaning up and cupping his face, trying to memorize the feel of it under her finger tips. "I'll be back for you Daniel. I swear it." She bent down and pressed her lips to his now cold ones, feeling icy tears drip down her cheeks.

Standing up, she dusted herself off and turned to head up the stairs, seeing the distant light of the first rays of dawn beginning to appear. After glancing back at his body one last time, Regina resolutely shut her emotions off. For now, she had a part to play.

But she would be back.

One day.

**So, there we go. Super depressing, and actually really difficult to write. I'm used to my Regina being sarcastic and bitchy, little Regina was much more difficult to write accurately. **

**To those waiting for Ooga Booga to be updated - its coming, I swear. Once again, I blame rebecamader for distracting me. But this was written in about a day, so I haven't lost that much time! And if you haven't read my other stories, check them out if you have time. I write both Swan Queen and Outlaw Queen (and now apparently Stable Queen). **

**Please leave a review to tell me what you thought! Thanks for reading.**


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